Town Square

A historic laneway is reinvented as a flash, new dining precinct. Sound familiar? Fish Lane Arts Precinct and Town Square is an entirely different story.

Fish Lane is synonymous with some of Brisbane’s best restaurants and bars. As the laneway evolves to reflect its proximity to the city’s cultural district, we helped translate these changes via reconceiving its brand, identity, and signage strategy.

Building on an already established position as Brisbane’s premier laneway for culinary adventures, Aria Property Group’s Fish Lane was relaunched in 2019 as the Fish Lane Arts Precinct – a natural extension of South Brisbane’s existing status as the city and region’s cultural heartland.

Working closely with Aria, we set about rebranding the precinct to embody and reflect the artistic DNA of the neighbouring area, as well as conceive and deliver both the identity and an integrated, intuitive signage strategy for the Arts Precinct’s latest addition: Town Square.

Town Square is a unique, sub-tropical, shared public and commercial space designed by Richards & Spence; home to new bars, restaurants, and retail – as well as dedicated public art spaces.

Within Town Square, custom signage prioritises visitors’ innate desire for discovery, providing subtle wayfinding through directional totems in material finishes that echo Richard & Spence’s distinctive palette. Subtle, further details include custom pictograms etched into public furniture, bespoke traffic signage, and attribution plaques integrated into wall surfaces.

Partnering with local creative agency Blaklash Creative, a collaborative timeline was commissioned for the central walkway into Town Square. Etched into the surface of the laid paving stones is a shared history of the local region, acknowledging the lives and culture of First Nations communities and European settlers, accompanied by prose by local Indigenous poet Ellen van Neervan.